HONG KONG: Hong Kong's publicly traded family-run banks are "very likely" to be bought by larger competitors as the cost of operating in the city rises, said a senior banker at the local unit of the mainland's biggest lender - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

The companies are attractive to cash-rich mainland lenders seeking a platform for expansion in Asia, and to overseas banks aiming to push into the mainland, said Stanley Wong, deputy general manager of ICBC Asia Ltd. He declined to say whether his bank's parent is in talks to buy a Hong Kong lender.

"The fixed cost in running a bank in Hong Kong has become very high regardless of size," said Wong, who headed Standard Chartered Plc's China unit before joining ICBC in 2004. "A lot of these smaller family-run banks are thinking of selling out. They're waiting for the right price."